He was certain of only one thing: he needed to find him. He had to find Bucky…
His injuries had healed, leaving little else but faint silvery scars where the bullets and metal hand had bitten into him. The serum’s boost to his immune system had saved him from an infection from the contaminated water, and mended the injuries quickly enough.
They could take everything he had. They could break everything he was. But still he would be rising from the ground, because he had a reason. Bucky….
Steve stayed in his apartment in Washington only because firstly, he had to prepare everything. And secondly, he knew where does Steve live…
He knew that search for his friend won’t be easy.
Bucky was an assassin and for sure he had his own ways to disappear when he only wanted to.
Sometimes Steve had an impression that someone was visiting his apartment during his absence. He wasn’t sure if that really happened, or if his own desperate hope was playing tricks on him. Steve could swore that sometimes he would return home to find something off; a paper on his desk moved a half-inch to the left, some drops of water by the sink, the blanket on the couch folded a bit differently than he remembered, and, most alarmingly, a single, minuscule drop of blood he’d found on the windowsill. He told himself it had to be Bucky, that he knew where he lived and could easily sneak in.
It sounded absurd even to him, but there was a tiny bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, he’d wake up one day to find his friend at the door. A foolish hope, he knew it, but optimism was one thing that he never could quite shake. So he was leaving his window unlocked anyway, just in case he wasn’t as delusional as he feared.
For most of the time, he just needed to be alone, to try and find Bucky on his own. He knew he was out there, somewhere, and he was determined to find him.
Steve was, of course, esteeming the presence of Sam, who was trying to help him as much as he only could, but mostly Rogers preferred to work alone.
He won’t just conform, no matter how they shake his core.
He needed to fulfill his own vendetta. He had sworn to himself, that he will find everyone, who ever dared to put hands on Bucky.
They devastated his friend. His pal. His buddy. HIS BUCKY…
Summary: Long time after events of CW Bucky returned to normal life. He even addopted little girl. After many years of calm life girl’s old problems return.
Word Count: 832
Warnings: none
[A/N] So… it’s short… But I was thinking over this long time. I hope you all gonna like it.
Bucky
sighed heavily and flopped on couch.
It was middle of the night and He just returned home…
There was a reason for him to return.
Bucky slowly got up and went to kitchen. Suddenly He heard loud scream from one
of the bedrooms. Man quickly rushed to bedroom and opened door.
Bucky looked inside and sighed sadly when He saw young girl sitting on bed.
She was the reason.
The reason for him to return home every evening.
His daughter.
His girl.
His everything.
Bucky went inside and sat on bed
“Andrea… Angel, what’s wrong.” He asked and pulled girl into a hug.
Andrea sighed heavily and hugged to him tight, girl started cry.
Bucky only rubbed her head
“You are warm… I think you have fever… Again.” He said quietly and girl only
nodded.
After few hour when Andrea was finally asleep again
Bucky noticed that She still had glove on her right hand, He shook his head and
slowly removed glove, revealing silver metal hand.
After few minutes Bucky was again sitting in living room, thinking what to do now.
He got up from couch and walked to phone to call Steve.
He was waiting at Steve to pick up but he only heard voice of young boy
“Um… H-Hello..”
Bucky blinked and smiled softly
“Hey Grant… Sorry that I woke you up. Can you give me Steve… I need to talk
with him.” Bucky muttered softly
“Hi Mr. Barnes… Sorry… But dad still didn’t returned home.” Boy said.
Bucky nodded and sighed softly “Okay, thanks kiddo. Please, when He will be
back tell him I want meet with him. Good night.” He said.
“Sure… No problem, Mr. Barnes… Good night.”
Bucky sighed and put his phone away.
He went to bathroom to take shower, later He went to bed.
At
morning Bucky was in kitchen, Making breakfast when Andrea came to kitchen.
Bucky smiled at girl “Good morning sweetheart. I wasn’t home really long time
yesterday… So I decided to make your favorite pancakes with fruits.” He said
happily but his happiness quickly faded.
Girl didn’t say a word she only sat on a chair and looked at her tea.
“Here you go…” Bucky said quietly and put plate in front of girl.
She only nodded “Thanks dad… I will eat in my room.” Andrea said and took
plate.
Bucky sighed sadly and shook his head, watching his daughter.
Bucky meet with Steve at small cafe.
“Hey Buck.” Steve said happily and sat at the chair “Grant told me you wanted
met. Something’s wrong? Something’s wrong with Andrea?” He asked a bit worried.
Bucky only nodded “Yes… This happen with her again Steve… nightmares, fevers…
With every day… She close herself more.” He said with voice full of worries.
Steve sighed and shook his head “Bucky… What you were expecting? You were
warned that this can return… We don’t know what THEY put into her head.”
Steve muttered
In this moment Bucky lost his hope for support from his best friend.
Somewhere
deep inside him something just snapped
“For fuck’s sake Steve! She was only five years old when We found her. Now she
is 17 it was fucking 12 years without bigger problems… Why this returned now?!
I don’t want lose my daughter.” Bucky growled.
“She
Is Not Your Daughter Buck. You good knew that this can return. You are
only her guardian. You are not her FATHER. You will have to take her back to
S.H.I.E.L.D.” Steve said.
Bucky sighed and rubbed his eyes
He felt so helpless. It was all true, Andrea wasn’t his biological daughter but
He really didn’t cared about this.
Bucky raised her since she was small
girls and He loved her just like his own daughter “But I don’t want to… I just…
I can’t.” Man said sadly.
Steve rolled his eyes “You will have to do this, pal. There is no other way.”
Bucky just got up and left Steve alone at cafe.
Bucky returned home and saw Andrea
sitting on a stairs.
“Hey angel… What’s up?”
She sighed sadly with tears in eyes
“I tried to be friends with girls from neighborhood… They… They said I’m
a freak…” Andrea said looking at her meta hand
“Why… Why I am different dad..?” She asked looking at Bucky sadly.
Man smiled at girl sadly.
He knew this feeling, it took him few years to live among normal people.
Guy with metal arm was big ‘attraction’ but in bad meaning.
It hurt him when He saw Andrea in such a mood
“Sweetheart. You aren’t different. You are special… Just like your old father.”
He smiled and sat next to her, rubbing her shoulder.
Girl smiled sadly and hugged to him “I love you daddy.” She said quietly.
Bucky already felt that her mood change, He hugged her back “I love you too,
angel. You are my treasure… My little star. I will never leave you.” Bucky
whispered, stroking Andrea’s hair.
Summary: Bucky and Steve woke up in Hydra’s base… nothing gonna be so easy now.
Word Count: 2765
Warnings: none
He slowly opened his eyes, looking around with unconscious glance. He was in a little room. He almost immediately recognized that place. It was his room in Hydra’s base. “Fuck..” Bucky cursed under his breath, slowly sitting at the edge of bed. His head was hurting so badly, he had dizzy.
Few minutes have passed before he was able to rise from his seat. He walked to the door unsteadily, leaning his metal hand against a cold wall for a support. He put hand at a handle and he tried to opened the door, but he quickly realized they were locked.
“Not so quick, soldier” a soft voice came to his ears from behind. He turned around and frowned. From the shadow of his room appeared a figure. Redhead female. “You…” he growled, his hands clenched into fists. The woman took a lock of her hair behind her ear. She smirked, her eyes were glowing in a dim light falling to the room throughout a little window placed under the ceiling. “And who were you expecting, soldier?” she asked in a soft voice. “Someone competent” he snapped angrily in response. Another wave of a terrible headache caused, that Bucky almost lost his balance, so he leaned his back against the metal door. Female laughed, but her laugh was cold like a ice needles. “So here I am, soldier” girl without any signs of a hesitation took a seat at Bucky’s bed, her eyes were still on him. “If you think that someone from captaincy will come to bargain, you’re fucking wrong, honey.” “Don’t call me that, fucking slatch” he threw her an angry glance, what only caused another wave of her laugh. “Where’s Steve?” Woman slowly, with a grace, crossed her legs. “Our doctors are taking care of him now” she said with a shrug. “So will they about you too, soon.”
Bucky took a deep breath. He only wanted to break her neck, but it wouldn’t help at the moment. He needed to invent a good plan, if he wanted to help himself and Steve. “Get out” he finally snarled, not even looking at the woman. “I wanna be alone.”
Redhead was sitting still for a moment, then she slowly rose from the place and with a swing in her hips, she approached him. He didn’t see a fear in her. She was a weapon. So was he. At least they had something in common… He frowned again, when her palm has rested at his metal limb. Her fingers traced a way down, to his palm. “You see, soldier. That’s our fate. To be alone” she said, her blue eyes shifted over his body to finally rest at his face.
He couldn’t bear it any longer, he couldn’t bear her glance, so gently but decisively he pushed her back. “Don’t touch me” Bucky muttered quietly, this time he didn’t run away with his own glance. He was looking hardly into her eyes. If this was a test of strength, he couldn’t gamble away…
A little smile crept onto her lips, before she nodded slightly. “Move away” she ordered coldly, so he did. He shifted aside, making a space at door. Female opened the door with a little golden key, which she pulled out of her pocket. She didn’t look at him, when she was leaving his room. She didn’t even look around, when she was walking along the long corridor, with that sweet swing in her hips. She was so hipnotizing…
Bucky was surprised that she didn’t lock his door again, but deep inside he knew it could be nothing more but trap, so he decided to not risk too much. He closed the door and he walked to his bed. He sat on the mattress, letting out a deep sigh. That woman started to annoy him. She was too confident. Too reinless. He thought that she has been through same tortures he has been through for all those years. Bucky slowly laid his head at the single pillow, looking up at the ceiling. He closed eyes, trying to fall asleep, but the sleep wouldn’t want to come to him. Bucky’s thoughts were still going about Steve. He couldn’t stop it. But finally, after several minutes, he fell asleep.
He had a nightmare. He was in a room filled with darkness. He heard a familiar voice. “Till the end of the line, Buck.” In next moment he felt a blade stabbed his heart.
He woke up, covered in a cold sweat. He had to find Steve.
Steve woke up groggy and very unsure of where he was. There were voices around him but Steve couldn’t make out what they were saying, and there were metal bands being secured to different parts of his body, locking him in place in what felt like a chair. Something was shoved into his mouth.
The murmur of voices suddenly cut off and then…
PAIN.
The most intense pain Steve had ever felt, radiating throughout his head. He didn’t know where it was coming from, but it was all consuming, keeping him from thinking about anything except the pain. Eventually, the pain stopped. And then, after a while, it started up again.
Steve opened his eyes slowly, giving himself time to adjust to the new light. When there were no more spots in his eyes he could see a tiled ceiling above him, florescent lights spaced evenly throughout it.
After a few moments of wondering, Steve sat up and looked around. He was lying in a small bed in a small room. It felt familiar, looking similar to a single hospital room.
Suddenly some unfamiliar figure entered to the room. “Captain, it’s very good to see you awake” the man’s voice was smooth and he took a few extra steps into the room. Steve stood up to greet him, and shook his hand when the man offered his. “Where am I?” Steve asked simply, trying to remember, who that man might be. “You’re in the Complex Zero” man uttered slightly. “You’re working for our organization, Captain.” Steve’s brow went up in a consternation when four armed soldiers entered the room, taking places next to the door.
Steve cleared his throat anxiously. “If you don’t mind my asking, Sir, what exactly is going on?” Man looked him over for a few moments, before he spoke. “Captain Rogers, we are going to reveal to you some information that you’re really not going to like. But, once you understand, I believe that you will see that we are on the right side of this.” Steve only felt more confusion. “Of course, Sir… I’m sure whatever you have to tell me can’t be that bad…right?” “Alright, Captain Rogers” man sighed, “the truth of the matter is that we work for an organization, in fact, I’m one of the heads of said organization, that fights against what you might consider ‘the right thing.’ We fight for the people, if you give people too much freedom, such horrible things can happen. Two World Wars, for example, and so many other wars. Our organization’s purpose is to help the world’s population in making the decisions that they are not ready to make. We do good work, Captain Rogers.”
Steve frowned. “I…don’t understand” he admitted. “Why would I be against that? I mean, it just sounds like you’re doing what a government would do, right? You’re making the big decisions so everyone else doesn’t have to. Isn’t that what our government has always done?”
One of the soldiers smiled widely. “Precisely, Captain Rogers. We’re just doing what anyone else would do.”
“So…why, exactly, would I be against it?” Everyone in the room tensed ever so slightly. After a few tense moments, man in the suit sighed. “Because we go by the name Hydra, Captain.”
For a few seconds it was so silent. Then Steve was in motion, sprinting towards the door. People cursed, and Steve felt two pairs of hands clamp down on him. He managed to yank out of three of the hands, but one had a good grip and didn’t let go of his shirt. Steve reached the door anyway, but there was nothing he could do – the door was biometrically locked. Steve whirled around, coming face to face with the soldier, who owned the hand still grasping his shirt. Steve slammed a fist into the man’s face, which made him stumble away, but then another man was suddenly there,throwing punches and kicking out.
When the two of them managed to pin him, there was the slight pinch on his neck of a needle sliding in, and after another moment, his vision faded to black.
It has been three or four days since the moment, when he and Steve have been captured by Hydra. Bucky couldn’t bear with the feeling of an anxiety about Steve, so he decided to try to find his friend. Using the fact his doors weren’t locked, Bucky slowly opened them and walked at the corridor. He looked around, but there were no guards or soldiers, so brunette apace walked ahead.
I’m wasted… All I wanna do is find you. I’m faded… All I wanna do is save you.
All the corridors were similar, but he was taking the way instinctively. He knew that place as his own pocket. It was easy for him to find a correct way to the laboratory level. He had a feeling that Steve was there.
Bucky rapidly opened the huge metal door at the end of one of the corridors and he needed to blink few times. An alburnum of the next corridor has blinded him for a while. When his eyes got used to it, he started to walk along the corridor, faster and faster with each step.
Suddenly he heard a loud scream and he recognised the voice. It was Steve. Bucky ran ahead, as fast as he only could. At the end of the corridor he fell at few guards, they were trying to stop him, but Bucky attacked them with all his might. As soon as they all were down, he forced the door in and he steeped into the small room. There was only a huge window opposite him, so Barnes walked to it. He looked through it and paled.
He saw a huge laboratory room. There was a single metal chair in the middle of the room. And there Steve was sitting… Bucky hitted in the window few times, but it was a bulletproof tempered glass. It only caused that few doctors raised their heads to give him a look. Bucky was cursing loudly, still hitting the window’s glass. He sweared to himself that he’ll kill them all. For what they did to Steve…
There was also a man, dressed in a black suit. He threw Bucky a rude gaze, a mischief grin appeared on man’s face.
Suddenly Bucky felt a strong blow in the back of his head. He fell in the ground, loosing his senses.
“Any progress?” Steve knew that voice, but he couldn’t place where from.
“It’s the same each day. The first six hours after the wipe are perfect, he’s just like The Soldier, taking orders without question, doing anything and everything we require of him. However, after that, he continuing gets better and better until, at twenty-four hours, he’s the same man he was before the wipe. We’re at eleven hours right now. It’s quite remarkable, really, the way the serum in his blood works, regenerating his brain cells again and again without fault.”
There was a sound of annoyance, and then there was a hand on his chin, lifting his head. Steve blinked blearily, his vision a little foggy, and looked up at the sort-of-familiar face now hovering in front of him. It was a man in suit, with glasses, who was looking at him curiously.
“Are you in there, Captain?” the man’s mouth moved and the words came out, but they seemed disconnected in Steve’s mind. Steve didn’t know how to reply to the words, didn’t particularly understand what they meant, so he just stared back at the man and tried to remember where he’d seen him before. Nothing was clicking, so Steve gave up on trying, it would come back to him eventually. Probably…
Steve yanked against the metal bands restraining him to the chair, glaring at all of the technicians in the room. They all seemed to be waiting for something, none of them meeting his eyes. Frankly, Steve didn’t really know why they weren’t wiping him again, that’s what they always did when he fully regained himself again. Steve didn’t quite know why, if they knew he was going to get his fully memory back after twenty-four hours, why keep trying? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Finally, the door to the room slid open and in walked man named Aiden Black, the freaking head of Hydra. He was dressed, as per usual, in a tailored three-piece suit. Redhead female came in behind him, in her normal fitted black shirt and pants, and black leather jacket. “Good morning, Captain. I trust you slept well?” Black said congenially, hands in his trouser pockets. Steve simply glared back, scowling, not giving them any response. At his lack of answer, Black simply shrugged. “Ah, well. It doesn’t matter. I’m here to talk to you about your new and complete loyalty to Hydra.”
Steve couldn’t help but scoff at that. “You’re out of your goddamn mind if you actually think that I’m going to ever be loyal to Hydra. I won’t do a single thing for you, Black.”
Black just gave a knowing smile and tilted his head. “We’ll see about that. Bring him in!” Suddenly, the door slid open again and few soldiers walked in, looking slightly smug, which was a little disconcerting considering the circumstances. Behind one of the soldiers was another man. The man had shoulder-length brown hair and a metal arm, but that wasn’t the weirdest thing Steve had ever seen and the man’s face…
Oh shit.
“B-Bucky?” Steve stuttered out.
It was Bucky, but, at the same time, it wasn’t. His face was expressionless, his eyes staring lifelessly at the wall far behind Steve. His arms hung loosely at his sides, fingers not even twitching as he stood, perfectly still. There was something so… blank about him, something so dead, that it made a shudder run up Steve’s spine.
“Quite the sight, isn’t he?” Black said proudly, going to stand by Bucky’s side. He put a hand on Bucky’s shoulder and Steve yanked against his bindings at the sight, snarling and gnashing his teeth like a wild animal. “His arm, it’s been modified throughout the years as the world had a lot of technological advances, but it’s quite similar to the original model.”
Seeing Bucky standing in front of him was life changing, even though Bucky wasn’t quite himself.
“You’re a smart man, Captain Rogers, I’m sure you can put the pieces together. How does Mr. Barnes fit into your new loyalty to us?” The blonde snarled, understanding perfectly. “If I don’t cooperate, if I don’t do everything you say, you’ll hurt him. You’ll hurt Bucky.”
Black nodded, satisfied. “Exactly, Captain Rogers, you got it in one. Now, you are going to be released from that chair, and you are not going to attack anyone. If you do, well, you will be subdued and Mr. Barnes will be hurt. Have I made myself clear?” Steve nodded, resigned and Black nodded to one of the technicians, who pushed a couple buttons on his computer and the metal bands holding Steve down snapped open. Steve immediately jumped to his feet and rushed to Bucky’s side, murmuring his name.
Black took a few steps towards the door, and then turned back. “Oh, one last thing, Captain Rogers. Hidden away in Mr. Barnes’s metal arm is not only a tracking devise that works anywhere in the world, but an explosive devise that will make him and anything within two-hundred feet of him go boom. So I want to make myself very clear, Captain, if you try to escape, whether you’re on mission with Mr. Barnes or just hanging about this facility, I will not hesitate to push a button and make sure you won’t even be able to scrape pieces of him off the sidewalk, he’ll be so demolished.”
There was a pause, and then Aiden Black smiled, completely at ease. “I look forward to us working together, Captain.”
Bucky and Steve fight together against Hydra’s agents, but unfortunately not everything is going right…
Word Count: 1379
Warnings:
none
“Behind you! Bucky!” Steve yelled.
Bucky saw them then. Silent as beetles, two men scuttled toward him. More followed, slipping from behind the trees. Under cover of the snow and fog, the pack had stalked in, unseen, converging from three directions. They were from Hydra. They carried knives, chains and guns.
They’d sent the girl as a honey pot to hold Steve and Bucky in place while the gang closed in. She’d smiled at them while she was planning to watch them die.
“More of them down that way” Steve dropped out of the fog, into his usual place, taking the left. They were two against that many…
Bucky quickly reached to his pocket, pulling out a little knife. He picked a target – one of men in front, where his friends would see him die – and threw his weapon. The man collapsed with a sucking, bubbling neck wound. The familiar stink of death rose in the alley. Bucky pulled his second knife. The thugs hesitated, sending glances back and forth, fingering blade and cudgel. Attack or retreat. It could go either way. If this lasts long, they’ll get killed.
“Mine on the right” Bucky threw and his blade hit badly and glanced off a collar bone of another enemy soldier. One man down. One wounded. “Waste of a knife, damn” Bucky growled in a low voice, looking briefly at Steve.
Steve nodded and ran straight at another Hydra’s soldier, after a second they both were tussling on the snow. Rogers straddled man, pinning him down as his fists were aiming blows in man’s face. He stopped only, when he felt a strong thwack in the back of his head.
Bucky’s last knife was in his boot. Not for throwing. This one was for killing up close. He forced his mind to the pattern the attackers wove, trying to spot the leader. Kill the leader and the others might scatter. And in a flash he realized. SHE WAS A LEADER OF THE PACK.
There was no way to get the woman. She stayed in their shadow, using Hydra’s soldiers as a shield. Then he didn’t think about her at all. Chain whistled past him. Bucky turned around and grabbed it and jerked the man off balance and drove his knife through a gap in the leather waistcoat, up under the breastbone, to the heart.
For an instant Bucky stood locked, face to face, with the man he’d just killed – a thickset red-head with pale skin and vicious, gleeful, mad blue eyes. Outrage and disbelief pulsed out at him and drained away. Man’s eyes went blank. Then the dead bastard thrashed, rolled with the knife, and took it down with him as he fell. There was no time to get it back. A crowbar cracked down on his shoulder with a bright, sour, copper pain. Bucky fell, dodged a boot, and rolled away as Steve took down his attacker.
The woman screamed. “Take ‘em alive! THEY want them alive! Move your fucking fat asses, suckers!”
Up. He had to get up. Bucky got back on his feet, shaking his head, trying to see through a black haze. The girl was standing between two men, aiming her gun in them. The Soldier staggered through madness and confusion, fog and pain. Steve was swearing a blue streak.
Suddenly more agents appeared from different sides.
“FUCK” Bucky cursed aloud, looking at Steve. “There’s too many of them! Call for a support, Steve.” “I did” Rogers quickly looked around. He ran to the nearest bench and ripped off its back. He was going to use it to the defence.
Redhead woman was observing all that scene with a restlessness. She briefly looked at her watch. 10:12 PM. She was belated and she knew she’s gonna be punished by her leaders. If they ordered her to be back in base at 10:10 PM, she was just obligated to do so, no matter with costs. She threw a cold glance at the man on her left. “Agent 3, we can’t allow it to lasts. Use the Alsatian.” Man nodded slightly and whistled loudly.
Bucky and Steve were fighting still, when they heard a mighty roar nearby. Agents, which were attacking them, moved away apace. Bucky helped Steve to rise up from the ground. He suddenly noticed, that Steve’s face was changing. His friend paled, looking above Bucky’s shoulder with a horror on his face.
Bucky turned his head back gradually. Bucky instinctively took a step back, allignig with Steve.
In front of them, few meters away, was standing something he saw for the first time in his life.
From the shadows came a huge wolf or something similar, much more bigger than a normal wolf, yet he was no an ordinary predator. He moved to block them, staring with almost human eyes at them. The wolf had a huge scar across a right side of his face, the green eyes were glowing in a dim light of lanterns in the park. The black-grey fur was ruffled by each wind blow. The only sound was his breathing, his flaring nostrils as he took in Bucky’s scent. He curled up his gums to reveal yellow stained teeth and then let out a low rumbling growl.
Bucky slowly turned his head to face Steve. “What now, Mr Know-It-All?” Bucky asked quietly. Steve started to move backward as slowly as he could, still with hia eyes on the animal. “Slowly, Buck. Don’t make any chaotic movements…” So Bucky did as Steve said. It was until the Soldier stepped on the branch, which cracked under pressure of his boots.
But animal didn’t attack. The wolf slowly stepped back, disappearing in the shadow.
Redhead’s lips curled up into a wry smile when agents attacked Rogers and Barnes once again. The two men seemed to be tired of the fight and she knew it won’t be long.
Bucky managed to take down 3 of the agents rather easily, Steve with all his strength was fighting against the biggest of the men.
Bucky wanted to help his friend, so he walked at the attacker, but suddenly he heard something behind.
Through the darkness came the glow of two green eyes, like sallow lamplight eight feet off the ground. They moved with a slight sway, as if the unseen body prowled like a big cat. But it definelty wasn’t a cat. Bucky stopped. The eyes did not, with rapid acceleration and a more bounding motion they came right for him. In less than two seconds he was on his back gasping for air. The first strike was with a poisoned claw to slow the reaction time of the victim, after that it was play time. The monster sank his teeth into Bucky’s neck, not too deep, but deep enough to weaken brunette’s strengths with a blood loss. Bucky let out a vicious scream, with his metal hand he grasped the throat of the huge animal and squeezed it as hard as he only could. With all his strength he pushed animal back, turning quickly at his knees. Man crawled aside, pressing his wound on neck with his hand. He could easily heard that wolf was preparing himself to the second attack, but suddenly another sound appeared. A chopper. That probably was a reason he hasn’t been attacked again.
Bucky lifted his head, seeing how Steve has been pinned down to the ground by two agents, one of them used an inhibitor to make sure Steve won’t fight again. The electricity ran quickly throughout whole Rogers’ body, causing a loud yell of pain.
Bucky yelled too, from anger and helplessness. Now, when everything seemed to be coming back to normal, Hydra stepped into their lives again. In the most cruel way.
Bucky felt, how heavy his eyelids were becoming with every second. He laid himself back on the snow, on his back, looking at the dark night sky. With a corner of his eye he noticed a black military chopper landed on the small meadow behind the trees. The last thing he saw was the redhead woman, she crouched next to him. “You see, Barnes, Hydra always receives everything she wants” her voice began to fade out, blurring to nothingness as all around him.
Summary: Steve receives an information about possible Bucky’s location. Bucky has to deal with a consequences of failure to perform his task. He’s found by Steve and his friends. They take the Winter Soldier to Shield base, but peace doesn’t last long. A mysterious envoy of Hydra is on a spoor of Bucky.
Word Count:
3338
Warnings: none
Steve was looking for Bucky since two weeks. Unfortunately, there was no signs of where he can be. Steve almost lost his hope, but some day, on Wednesday, something had changed.
He was at the daily training session with Sam and Clint, when two high rank agents approached them at the training room. “Captain” one of them spoke slowly. Steve lifted his chin up and looked at the man in the suit. “Yes?” he frowned a bit. Wilson and Barton walked to Steve and measured agents with surprised glances. “We have an information about Winter Soldier” the agent in a black suit said simply. Second man started to look for something in his case. After a while he pulled out a red briefcase with a handwritten inscription on it. “JAMES BARNES.” Steve’s heart immediately raced in his chest as he noticed the superscription. Without any words he took the folder in his hands and opened it. He started to read, turning around to the other men and walked to the nearest bench. He took a seat, still reading a dossiers. “Steve?” Sam walked to his friend, looking down at him. Steve was silent still, but after few moments he slowly lifted chin to look at his buddy. “They know where he is” he mumbled with a trembling voice.
It was a hard time for the Soldier. He needed to face never-ending pain, nearly death and angst, which they had offered him. After few days of tortures he was so tired that he even couldn’t defend himself anymore. It was a point where he was begging. About even a few drops of a water… He hated to be dependent on them, but if he wanted to survive, he just hadn’t other choice.
“You failed” his handler was standing next to the one of a generals of Hydra. Bucky was sitting at the metal chair in the interrogation’s room, he was looking at both of the men with a cold glance of his blue eyes. “We checked upon your files, Soldier” general’s voice was frigid. No emotions at his face. Bucky knew that man was rather too young for someone with such high rank. It meant he had no scruples. It was easy to advance in Hydra’s structure, the only things you had to have was perkiness and uncompromising attitude. Bucky knew also he could kill both of them within 30 seconds. But he was too exhausted to even try to fight. “And we have made our decision” a wry smile crept onto his handler’s mouth. Bucky didn’t even blink. The two men exchanged their glances in a silence. “You’ll be executed tomorrow, at the dawn” general said simply. “You know too many things. You didn’t give us any other choice, Soldier.” Bucky didn’t show any signs of a fear, but deep inside he was screaming from a dismay. After a second he cooled himself down and he started to create a plan of an escape. They wanted his death, but he wouldn’t give them a satisfaction. If they wanted to kill him, first they’ll have to break him down.
At the dawn, Bucky has been awoken by four soldiers. The captaincy had sent such many soldiers to drag him at the main square of the headquarters just to make sure he won’t escape. But Bucky was calm. Maybe even too calm, but fortunately men didn’t notice it. His plan has just started.
Once they brought him at the square he noticed, that there was a firing squad awaiting for him. But he was still calm. He let soldiers to take him at the middle of the square where they tied his hands behind his back. He even let them to put an old, stinky bag on his head so he couldn’t see anything.
After several seconds he heard a sound of a reloaded weapons. He didn’t show any fear. He was standing still, with the bag on his head, his back straight and hands tied behind. He was breathing calmly, repeating the plan in his mind. He started to count to 3.
…1… He knew the firing squad was aiming at him. …2…. The voice of the main commander who ordered soldiers to prepare themselves to shot. …3… In the last moment Bucky tautened his muscles, tearing the chains up. Second later he made a backflip, hitting the nearest soldier in chin with his combat boot. As soon as man was down, Bucky took his Makarov pistol and quickly aimed in the second soldier, killing him with a one single shot. The firing squad shot. Three or four bullets ricocheted from Bucky’s metal arm, next two bullets hit brunette in the chest. Bucky yelled loudly in a pain before he fall down on the concrete. Still holding the gun in his hand, with a metal palm he pressed the wounds on his chest, trying to catch a breath. A fear started to overwhelm him, but he couldn’t let it to happen. When four or five soldiers have ran to him, Bucky got up and started a grapple. He managed to pull the long knife from a pocket of the nearest soldier and with it he splitted man’s throat. Then he quickly stabbed another man in chest. Suddenly he felt a huge pain in his back. Bucky clenched his teeth to hold back a scream. He turned around and saw one of the commanders in front of him. Man was holding a knife in his hand, he threw Bucky a vicious gaze. “You fucking piece ofa shit!” man shouted, attacking Bucky. After few moments the two man was laying down on the ground, tussled fiercely. Bucky finally with all his strength stab the knife in commander’s throat. He felt a warm, viscous liquid on his hand. Blood. The blonde man, who was laying beneath Bucky, laughed weakly, looking straight in the blue eyes of the Soldier. “They’ll find… you… everywhere.. They don’t… like… to… lose their toys..” Bucky smiled only and hit man with his metal arm straight in face. He heard the sound of broken nose, he felt like man’s face was changing in a bloody slurry. He didn’t stop until whole bones in man’s face weren’t broken. He only atopped when man was still. He looked down and let out a sigh, seeing what he has done. But he wasn’t sorry about that. They forced him to do so. There was a blood on his hands, on his face, in his hair, he felt that his grey shirt was soaked with blood too. His chest was hurting him oh so badly, but he couldn’t stop. Not now.
When only he left alive on the square, the Soldier began calculating his strategy. How many more soldiers? Where are the weapons stored? What is his exit plan? The truth was he didn’t believe he’ll make it. But he did. And now he had to run. As far as he only could. He put a lo g knife in his combat boot, he took two more and placed them in his pants’ pockets. He took also as much magazines as he could carry, putting them in his free pockets in his military pants. He took two pistols in his hands and walked straight to the main building of the base.
As soon as he opened the door, he shot the two soldiers first, firing before they had time to suspect the Soldier is no longer their creature. Then he walked straight to where he knew the transport sheds hold the trucks he’ll need to escape. There were soldiers awaiting him between the building and the sheds and they put up stronger resistance. But he fought his way into the sheds.
He put volleys of bullets into the engine blocks of the trucks he didn’t take, so his pursuers will have to call for help, but he knew it won’t be enough. Escape will require all his skills. And more luck than he though the universe will grant him. But he’s come too far. He won’t surrender so easily. They have made a weapon on him. And he’ll use that weapon against them all.
An hour’s hard drive got him to a city, named Zhukovsky. As he entered the city limits, he could already see signs that his enemies are closing around him. Troop transports on main streets. Police and soldiers already on the streets, checking papers. He needed to move fast, to get himself out of here, out of Russia.
He parked the truck in an industrial area. He got off the car and almost immediately he feel on the ground. The sharp pain in his chest threw him on his knees.
After few minutes he managed to got up and he slowly walked into the direction of the forest on the horizon.
He didn’t know how long he was hedging throughout the forest. Finally he slowly sank on his knees, leaning back against the tree. He was pressing the metal palm to the wounds on his chest. He was breathing slowly. Suddenly he realized that with an air, the blood was exhaled with his breaths. He probably had injured lungs. He looked at his metal palm. It was covered in a blood. His own blood.
He got to fight another fight. He got to run another night. He was on his way, and he didn’t feel right. He gotta get himself back. He couldn’t be beaten, that was a fact. He’ll find a way. They ain’t gonna take him down, no way.
He didn’t even notice, when he lost his senses. Whole world has faded away in a darkness.
Steve was walking throughout a forest, he was carefully looking around. Sam and Clint were with him, safeguarding their backs. “Are you sure, Steve?” Clint asked simply, his bow was prepared to shot in every moment. It was a dark night, clouds were veiling the moon, so there was literally no light, it handicapped the search. They had to use a flashlights, but even that didn’t help at all. They erred in a dense fog. Every path they had chosen, was leading to nowhere. But Steve received a confirmed informations. Bucky had to be somewhere around. Suddenly Sam has stopped, raising his hand up, he gave a sign to rest to be quiet. Clint approached Steve and aimed ahead, he was ready to shot. A figure has slowly emerged from the mist. Steve immediately recognized him. It was Bucky. His metal arm was glistening in a light of Sam’s flashlight. Brunette was slowly walking in their direction, holding himself by a chest. He slowly sank down on his knees, letting out a quiet whimper as he did. Steve wasn’t waiting any longer, he ran to the man and knelt next to him, supporting him from falling completely on the ground. “BUCKY….” Rogers whispered, laying Soldier carefully on the forest floor. He slowly pushed man’s hand off his chest to realized there was a huge stain of a fresh blood at his shirt. Falcon and Hawkeye walked to them, lightening place up with their flashlights. “He’s injured” Sam notified quietly. Steve only nodded, slipping hand under Bucky’s arm to lift him up. “Help me, guys” Rogers asked slightly and after a while Barnes was again standing on his feet, supported by Captain America himself. “Let’s take him to the base. There they’ll look upon him” Steve announced as they were walking back to their plain.
Bucky slowly opened his eyes, looking around with a unconscious gaze.
He was in a little room with a walls in a subtle shade of sand. He was laying on a bed, covered with a warm white quilt. His head was rested at the fluffy pillow. Bucky was breathing calmly. When he wanted to get up, he felt a strong hand on his chest which brought him back down in the pillow. The Soldier looked at the side and paled.
Captain America. His former target.
He opened his mouth, but not even a single word had left them. “Shhh… You shall rest now” blonde man took hand back, looking down at the Soldier. “You has been seriously injured.”
Brunette swallowed before he finally spoke. “Who is Bucky?” That was the only one question he wanted to ask. He needed to know. His blue eyes seemed to drill through other man’s chest, reaching his soul. “You are Bucky” Steve managed to whisper after a while of an awkward silence. “Your name is James Barnes, but we all used to call you Bucky or Buck..” Brunette turned his glance aside. “I don’t remember” he mumbled under his breath. “You need a time.. Hydra was in a control over you.” Bucky let himself to close eyes for a while. “And who are you?” the Soldier asked hesitantly. “They said you’re an enemy.” Steve sighed deeply, rubbing his chin. “I’m Steve.. Steve Rogers. And I’m not the enemy. I’m your friend..” he did everything to hide a single tear which was streaming down his face. Bucky turned himself on a side. “I wanna be alone..” he splattered slightly. Steve sighed and slowly rose up from the chair. “I’m glad you’re alive” Rogers added before he left a room.
Itsy bitsy spider is climbing on the wall. Better watch your step or in her web you’ll fall. Spin you round in circles in a net of doubt. If you’re stuck, I’m done with you, beause I won’t get you out.
She was a handsome woman, built on the gorgeous lines of a Renaissance goddess. Her blue eyes, like the sea, were calm and emotionless. Long, wavy red hair, so smooth and silky, almost as if it was tailored from satin. Her pastel white flawless skin made her beautiful pink full lips stand out. The way her long lashes framed her eyes when she captured a target turning them into a stone and the way her full lips would curl into a mischievous grin every time she did so. She had a little mole next to her left eyebrow. Her shape like a rock guitar – rounded hips and very pronounced waist. Her long legs were perfect too.
She appeared in the cafe with the winter snow billowing around her short black skirt. She had a tight lacy blouse under a black coat. Most of people inside did pay an attention to her beauty. She was literally stunning. The clicking of her high heels added rhythm to the soft classical music that played onward without pause. Her eyes scanned the room with determination in search of someone. She walked to a counter, with hipnotizing swing in her hips. She rested hands on the counter, subtly leaning forward to a waiter. “Excuse me” she whispered softly, her voice delicate as a petal of a rose. “I’m looking for someone.” Man behind a bar lifted his chin to give her a look. She opened her little purse and pulled out a photo, which next she gave to a man. “Do you know maybe, where I can find him?” young woman asked. Man was looking at the picture for a while, then he gave it back to the girl. “I do know him. It’s Captain America, everyone knows him here. The easiest way to find him is to go to the S.H.I.E.L.D base, at the shore of the river. It’s a large building, you won’t have any problems to find it” he said, looking obstinately in woman’s decolletage. Redhead nodded slightly, putting the picture back into her purse, then she thanked and turned around to leave thw cafe.
But at the door, she stopped. She has slowly looked around before she pulled a gun out of her coat’s pocket. With several shots she killed everyone in the cafe. Without a blink. She didn’t want to be recognised, that was why she did so.
After all, she put her Desert Eagle Magnum back into her pocket and then redhead has left the cafe, without any witnesses. The place luckily was located at the suburbs of the city, so she was mirebthan sure that no one has seen her. Now she knew, what she has to do.
Two weeks have passed.
Bucky was slowly coming back to his full strengths under watchful eye of Steve. Not everyone was glad about the Winter Soldier presence in the base. Black Widow was constantly showing, how unhappy she is with that fact by never-ending arguments with Rogers and Barnes. Nick Fury ordered agents to keep an eye on Bucky, so there wasn’t a moment, when he could be fully alone.
That day Steve took him at the little walk. Practically, both of them have sneaked out from under the tutelage. They wanted to talk in peace, without a neighboring glances. Steve decided to take Bucky to the little park located at the other side of the river. “How’s your chest?” blonde asked with a care in his voice aa they both took a seats at the wooden bench.
The winter was rather beautiful. The snow was slowly circulating down in the gentle wind, a frosty air was gently pinching the cheeks of two men.
“It’s fine” Bucky’s low voice seemed to slit the air. Steve took a deep breath, improving his blue scarf. “Something new?” Rogers enquired. Bucky shook his head slightly. “Only the fact your mom’s name was Sarah” brunette rubbed his hands to warm them up a bit. Steve couldn’t help but smiled, putting palm at Bucky’s shoulder. “Yes. You have right, Buck.” The Soldier looked at the Captain with an impassable sadness in those blue eyes of his. “I wish I could remember more, but sometimes.. I just can’t trust my own mind.” Steve nodded. “I know, Buck. I know.”
They spent almost half an hour, talking with each other. Then, when the sun went down, Steve commanded a way back to the base.
When the two men were at a wide path between a rows of trees, they heard some noises behind them. It was a sound of reloaded gun. They both turned around. Steve’s brows narrowed, he instinctively put a hand at Bucky’s chest, pushing him back a little.
In front of them was standing a young redhead woman. She was holding a gun in her straight hands, aiming in Captain’s head.
“Steve…” Bucky said slowly. Blonde gave his friend a sign to stay silent. “Who’re you?” Rogers asked simply. Redhead’s lips turned into a wry smile. “You’re in my way, Captain, so you better watch out” her voice was melodious. “And you’re in a possession of something, which belongs to Hydra.”
Steve looked at Bucky with a corner of his eye. She wanted Bucky.
“Who’re you?” he repeated coldly, slowly reaching to his pocket, where he had a pager. He pushed the button hoping that Sam will hear the sound of his own pager at the gym. Woman laughed shortly. “You’re pathetic. You always have been. You really thought Hydra has been destroyed, but as you can see you were wrong. Now give the Winter Soldier back to us and no one will be hurt.”
Steve slowly started to take little steps backward. He was without his shield, without a protection. They were at the open terrain, there was no place to hide. And Bucky was with him. He couldn’t lose Bucky again. Not after all those years. Not when he just got him back…
Woman was dressed in a black leather pants and a black bluse with a tactic vest on top of it. Her outfit was emphasizing her body shape, she was slim and fit.the Her combat boots had a high sole and they also were black. Her long wavy red hair were loose. She was measuring him with a cold gaze of her blue eyes.
“Who’re you!?” this time Steve yelled. He was trying to gain some precious time.
Young woman lifted her chin up a bit, looking hardly at Steve, she smiled wryly. “I’m the new generation of the Winter Soldier.”
He had to be wiped again. It took five men to get him into the chair, and three to get the rubber guard in his mouth. He sweared he’ll kill them all. If he will remember. If he will…
If you’re not close to someone, you won’t miss them when they’re gone.
The war against Hydra has started again.
Steve’s heart was broken. Bucky. His Bucky was ALIVE. The man he missed for all those years, the man he thought has died. The lost friend… He was ALIVE. He was in a reach of his hand, but once again Steve has failed. He let them take Bucky away.
Captain was sitting in his room, at the desk with a little lamp on it. He was drawing, as he used to do in a good times. He drew a man. A man with dark hair and a wicked smile and pain behind his eyes. The picture caused a pain in Steve’s chest so intense, he wasted precious lead scribbling over it until the image was obliterated before he torn it up. He let out a short scream, letting tears to run down his cheeks. Bucky. HIS FRIEND.
Steve slipped hands in his blonde hair, he lowered his head, closing the blue eyes of his.
He remembered the way Bucky looked at him when he called his name. Steve saw, how confused man was. He seemed to not remember things. It was Bucky, that was obvious, but he was STRANGE. Of course he had changed, his hair were longer, he had a beard. And finally, he had a pain behind his eyes.. Ineffable pain. It was Bucky, but at the same it wasn’t him. Steve couldn’t recognize his friend in those blue eyes. It was the foe.
A subtle knocking to his door roused him from thoughtfulness. “Come in” he said simply, closing his sketchbook. The door has opened and Sam walked in. “I came to check if you need something” Wilson said slowly, with kind of a hesitation in his voice. Steve gave a sad smile to his friend, shaking head slightly. “All I need is to find HIM, but you know that” Captain rose from a chair and walked to the large window with a view at the Potomac River. He leaned his forearm against a cold glass, letting out a loud sigh. Falcon for a moment was standing still, but then he slowly walked to Captain and put his palm on man’s shoulder. “I know” he affirmed. Steve lifted his chin and turned head to face Sam. “I have a feeling I’ve lost him again” that short statement was the only thing Captain could say at the moment. Falcon looked straight into his friend’s eyes. “We’ll find him, but first of all you have to convince our management to this idea. Natasha is injured, I don’t think they’ll just let you bring Barnes here. It’s too dangerous. He’s a… lunatic.” “SAM” Steve’s face has stiffened in a second. “Hydra has a control over him. It wasn’t him…” Falcon took a step back, now both of his palms were placed at Steve’s shoulders. “It’s hard for you and I respect it. But someone has to stay with clear mind. Let me be a voice of rationality” sad smile appeared on Sam’s face as he spoke. “You can’t just throw everything and go to look for him. Even you won’t manage it. He’s a ghost. And I think they changed his location. We have to prepare a plan. We need to have a support from above, so Fury has to accept your idea before you’ll take any actions” Sam cocked brow at Steve, looking for a confirmation if his friend understands his words. Captain with a deep sigh gave a slight nod. “Very good” Sam patted Steve’s back. “You shall rest” he added quickly, taking hands off blonde man’s shoulders. “Don’t worry. Now, when we know he’s alive, it’ll be easier to track him down” after the last sentence, Falcon quietly left the room, leaving Steve alone with his thoughts.
Bucky had a nightmare again. But this time it was something new.
It was as if God had adjusted the colours of the world in the night, like it was as easy as twisting one of those old plastic dials on a TV set. Everything was brighter than it should be, the trees were not just green but radiant virescent hues that burned themselves in Bucky’s sleepy retinas. The houses were as grey as if they’d been repainted by moonlight and now stood vibrant in the golden rays that fell unfettered though the clear sky. The road that should be grey was a sleek river of black with perfect paint lines and the street, lamps were blue. But they had never been blue, not ever. Everything was so right it was wrong – really wrong. The front yards that had been dishevelled with the decrepitude of late winter just yesterday were a riot of colourful blooms. Bucky turned back to look at his house, the curtain twitched. Someone was in there. He hurried to the front door only to find it was locked. Suddenly Bucky heard familiar voice, it came from behind. Brunette slowly turned around. In front of him his last target was standing, without hesitation. Captain America, Steve Rogers. His skin was pale, his big eyes seemed to glow in a blue light of the street lamps. He was wearing a military uniform, its colour also wasn’t normal, a mix of black with radiant blue. “Do you remember all the danger we came from?” man asked. Bucky couldn’t say a word. Some kind of an invisible force overwhelmed his entire body. “I’m longing for the days of no surrender, years ago” Captain continued. “To all the things I’ve lost on you, tell me, Bucky, are they lost on you? Just that you could cut me loose after everything I’ve lost on you?” The Soldier trembled slightly, he wanted to take a step backward, but something was keeping him in a place. “So smoke ‘em if you got ‘em ‘cos it’s going down” blonde man said, taking a pistol out of his pocket. He aimed and shot in Bucky’s head.
Bucky woke up, trembling all over his body, covered in cold sweat. He sat on his bed, his eyes weren’t accustomed to the darkness, so he blinked few times. The target. He knew that man. He used to know him… He was sure now.
Bucky rose up and went to the little, dingy bathroom located on the corridor. Once he was there, he quickly splashed his face with a cold water, then he lifted chin and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He only noticed a pair of sad, frightened blue eyes. He was pale, he desperately needed a shave. He clenched hands in fists and with metal one he simply hit in the mirror. Glass with a loud bang has crashed into hundreds of small pieces. At the same time Bucky squalled targets name, slowly slumping to his knees.
After long argument with Fury, Steve finally received the assent to look for Bucky and to bring him to the S.H.I.E.L.D base. Now the race against time has started.
Ten minutes to eliminate the Captain America is more than generous. He didn’t make a sound, he was trained not to make a sound. While the van was standing at the little parking lot next to the main street in the city center, he was awaiting, in a shade of a huge skyscraper. Leaning his back against the cold wall of the building, he once again repeated his plan.
Take your aim… HE’S ONLY A TARGET. Cut him down… THAT PREMONITION THAT I KNEW HIM. Your bullet can’t ricochet….
Finally he heard some voices. Target wasn’t alone…
“Are you sure it’s here?” Sam asked hesitantly. “Excuse me? Are you undermining my navigational skills now?” Natasha barked loudly, getting out of their car. Steve, who at that moment was standing next to the vehicle, was looking around. “Stop, immediately, both of you” he said in a harsh voice of his. “It’s not a good moment for arguments, do you understand?” Natasha only rolled her eyes, taking a seat at the hood of the car. “What’s now, Cap?” she asked coldly. “I’m telling you, Steve. It could be anyone else. Maybe they’re wrong.” Captain didn’t answer at her words, because he noticed the black van standing at a one of free parking spaces.
In the same time Soldier decided to start an action. He turn around, stepping out of the shadow and he aimed. But he quickly realized the target was firing his own weapon at him, one bullet has striked him in the chest where his tactic vest absorbed the impact. In the next moment the target launched himself at the Soldier. He was good, Bucky had to admitted… He was stronger and faster than target was, but he had to concentrate to block man’s blows and get through his defences. He lost his own weapon early in the exchange. Bucky was finally able to sweep blonde man’s feet out from under him and he went down. He straddled the target, circling his neck with his hands. It will take only moments now…
But the target wasn’t alone. Bucky felt a strong blow aimed in his neck, so for a short moment he lost his concentration. Not even taking eyes off the target, with his metal arm he grabbed second person, who was still standing behind them. He easily threw the person aside. With a corner of his eye he noticed it was a redhead woman.
He again focused on the target beneath him. But the target wasn’t done. He managed to get one leg up to Bucky’s throat, to force him down and break the grip that’s depriving him of breath. He almost managed to get away. No one has managed to come so close to escaping the Soldier… But he had him pinned again in a moment… The target began to strike out with no technique, just blind panic, arms and legs were flailing against him. As he gasped for breath that won’t come, one of the target’s hand reached out and grabbed his face mask, pulling it off.
The target saw his face, and he freezed. The target knows him…
Second strong blow in the neck threw Soldier out of the target, straight at the concrete. He made a coup forward and quickly got back on his feet. There was one more person besides the woman. It was a tall black man. A strong man…
The target got up from the ground with help of his comrade. Bucky felt target’s eyes on himself.
Soldier slowly turned his head to face blonde man. “BUCKY?!” the target whispered quietly. Soldier for a second was silent, than he narrowed his brows and barked. “Who the hell is Bucky?”
He didn’t know what the target was talking about. But the familiar feeling of knowing that man came back to Soldier’s head.
Suddenly an apparent peace has been interrupted by shots. The two men who came at the place with the Soldier, seeing what was going on at the parking lot, decided to step into an action. They were aiming in the target and his comrades. Suddenly Soldier heard a female scream. Redhead has been shot in her arm and she fell on the ground, squeaking quietly.
“Get to the fucking van!” one of the mercenaries screamed loudly, giving a sign to the Soldier, while the second was distracting the target.
Bucky ran straight to the car and quickly got in. After a moment second of the men jump to the van too and he shut the door as he did. A driver hardly pressed the accelerator and after a while they were on a way back to the private airport.
His handler was standing on the stairs, just out of reach, he held a pistol firmly in both hands. It didn’t matter. The Soldier knew he could kill the man if he wanted to. He had a gun in his boot and three knives, and he wouldn’t even need any of them. He could cross the distance between them and break the man’s neck before he could pull the trigger or say the words. But he didn’t. The handler’s controls was fraying, but they weren’t quite broken yet. “Soldier, report” his handler ordered. The Soldier didn’t even do his handler the courtesy of looking at him, keeping his eyes directed to the floor. He was sitting at the narrow brick wall, in the huge devastated, abandoned air shed. “You failed your mission, Soldier. I need your report.” That made the Soldier turn to his handler. He knew he did. “Who am I?” Bucky asked. “You are the Soldier” the handler replied without hesitation. “And who was I before that?” “You were nobody.” the words were spit out, contemptuous. The Soldier clenched his fists. “You ARE nobody.” “Who was the target?” he asked. “He was an enemy.” “I knew him” the Soldier whispered. “That’s why he had to die. He would have exposed your existence. Your work is so important, we cannot allow that to happen.” the handler was so sure, so confident. The Soldier hated him. “But I knew him” Bukcy insisted. He sensed his handler’s tense. He rose to his feet and faced down his handler. The man was almost as tall as he was, but the Soldier knew he can’t be underestimated. “Солдат. Стоп.” The Soldier balanced on the balls of his feet. He knew the switch to Russian meant the words were coming. “Желание.” One word wasn’t enough for the handler to take his will, but it was enough that for the Soldier to feel the strands of control began to once more wind around him. He launched himself forward with a snarl, sure of his own ability, but his handler was ready for him. He fired two times and the Soldier felt two darts strike, in throat and leg. He fought to keep moving, but can feel the drugs, the poison, which was overcoming his will. He had his hands around the throat of his handler, but his vision was fading and he fell. The last thing he felt before he lost consciousness entirely was a vicious kick to his ribs.
He woke up in the chair and found the routine has changed. This time, they started with fire, fire that burnt the rebellion from his brain. Fire that left him screaming, that made his limbs tremble. When the fire has burned the last fragment of his old self away, only then they did stop. His handler approached him, the hated red book which he has held in his hands. “And now, Soldier,” his handler said coldly, “we will begin again.”
The
routine is always the same: ice, fire, words, compliance.
They pull the Soldier from the cryo chamber with ice still in his veins and
drag him down throughout dark corridors and through bulk head doors to the
chair. Coming out of cryo, he never remembers much, but he remembers enough to
fear the chair. There aren’t any good times.
He thought heaven can’t help him now.
Nothing lasts forever, but this is gonna take him down somehow.
These memories follow him around, still.
Some snippets of situations he could barely remember caused kind of an anxiety.
He knew however, that he has to be impassive, no matter what will happen.
Steve Rogers.
That single name re-echoed in his head.
It was kinda bothering him, because he had an irresistible feeling, that he
knew that person. Somehow. Sometime.. Somewhere…
Soldier, the soldier, get the soldier,
soldier we have a mission for you, soldier, soldier…
Mission report.
What mission? Which mission? Why are they staring at me?
Mission report.
Captain America.
Ice. Fire. Words. Compliance. More fire.
More words. More ice.
Every time they pull him from the ice, things have changed. Hairstyles. Cars.
Fashion. Language changes. A phrase that would have passed unnoticed becomes
old-fashioned while he sleeps. Who his handlers serve changes as well: from the
Soviet Union to Russia to Hydra.
There are some constants, though.
He has a habit. He sketches between missions, when he’s awaiting at another
assignment. But as soon as sketch is done, he destroys it.
Once he couldn’t force his himself to tear up that sketch, and his handler found
it stuck in a pocket that usually holds ammunition. They broke his fingers
before they put him in the ice that time, and again when they pull him out. The
Soldier’s fingers ache after that, a steady reminder not to get caught again.
The other thing that doesn’t change is
death. Whether his handlers are Soviet, Russian or Hydra, their orders always
involve death. They burn out his memory, but death always follows him.
All those people he killed.
Polish colonel in Warsaw, Danish special agent, Bosnian high rank commander of
Tactical Air Force…
He remembers all of them. ALWAYS.
Where are those happy days? They seem so
hard to find. I really tried to make it out, I wish I understood. How can I
even try to go on?
And now he was assigned once again. His
mission seemed to not be so easy this time, but there was no place for excuses.
Captain America. Steve Rogers. And Soldier has to eliminate the target.
His handler took him to the little room.
It was “his place”.
There was a little window beneath a ceiling, brick walls were dilapidated. A
narrow metal bed with a smouldering mattress on it was standing with bedhead to
the door.
“Rest. You’re going to Washington tomorrow morning” handler said in harsh
voice, without any redundant emotions.
He only nodded.
As soon as doors were closed, Bucky
slowly sat on the mattress, slipping his metal fingers into his long hair.
“I need to shave”, brunette thought to himself. It was rather a ridiculous
afterthought, he thought second later.
He always wanted to ran from demons of his past, so he tried to think about
some silly things. Sometimes it helped. Sometimes not…
He spent whole night by sitting on the
mattress, with knees tucked up to his chin.
The sun has already long set when they
landed at a private airfield. The two men with them made bribes and threats to
avoid any questions. The Soldier geared up in his tactical suit, the handler
insisted that this job requires the face mask.
Bucky made sure he had all his weapons —guns, knives. He put the mask in place,
and then got into the back of the plain black van that awaited them on the
tarmac.
In the van, time seemed to come to a standstill.
When the van stopped and the handler
threw the door open on a city street he thought he should recognize, he could
noticed the beginnings of light showing in the sky.
“You have ten minutes. They’ll be here in a moment” his handler said.
They were looking for him since several
minutes.
“They said he’s somewhere around here” Natasha growled, once again taking a
look at the navigation and a little red dot on a screen.
Sam let out a slight gasp.
“Maybe S.H.I.E.L.D has wrong informations? Who has reported it?” man asked,
shrugging.
“They have confirmed informations, Sam” Captain’s voice was firm as he spoke.
Steve was preparing to this actions
since very long time period.
The Winter Soldier, the Ghost, was in the city and it might be the only
occasion to find him and take him to the base.
He was responsible for a lot of assassinations in last few decades. S.H.I.E.L.D
really wanted to catch that man. He was the most dangerous person and he needed
to be captured.
Steve’s phone rang suddenly, so he picked up a call.
He was listening for a while and when he
hung off the phone, he threw a gaze to Sam.
“Turn right, Sam. One of the agents has seen their van at the city center.”
Imagine: Bucky
is being tortured and trained to become a Winter Soldier
The basement was pitch black. He was as blind as if his eyes had been gouged. His body washed cold. He brought his fingers to his eye sockets, they were still there. He turned back to the stairs and tried to run up, but his foot fell through each one like it was a mere projection. So how had he walked down them? He leant forwards to touch the stair and felt a fabric fall down his arm, soft and velvety. Cold metal touched his forehead and moved down. Without sight of any knife he began to bleed from the neck, he choked. He raised his hands to feel the sticky warm fluid about his throat. He screamed.
A loud noise startled Bucky out of his abysmal nightmare. His cheeks were wet and his body was bathed in a cold sweat. The sheets were twisted around his limbs, probably because he was thrashing in his sleep. His heart pounded against his chest. Bucky trembled. The room was entirely dark. No light anywhere. The remnants of his nightmare still clung to his mind, haunting him. Another flash of lightning illuminated the room in blinding light. Bucky let out a frightened cry and buried his face into his pillow. Even his breaths trembled. He swallowed and once again turned to see the endless darkness of his room. He couldn’t see anything.
Every night it was the same. He was always back in his personal hell. The same nightmare all the time. On awakening, despite the nightmare ending, a ghastly feeling of being watched by invisible eyes. Anxiety. Fear. But he couldn’t show it. He had to stay strong.
Bucky has been trained to become an assassin for Hydra. He was meat on a slab to Hydra’s agents, screaming, begging, crying, pleading, bargaining, but nothing affected them. He knew the rules. He had to be obedient.
“Name?” a low voice asked. He cleared his throat before he spoke. “James Buchanan Barnes.” Electricity lanced through his brain, causing strong convulsions — his teeth ground together, his hands gripped the chair, he pulled and fought and couldn’t get away, nothing remained but the fire in each of his muscles. “Name?” the voice asked again. “…please… I…” Bucky whispered weakly. Another blow of the electricity caused a huge pain, it spreaded quickly throughout his whole body. “NAME” voice was harsh. Bucky didn’t say a word. Cold. Darkness. Sore. He ran a dry tongue over shriveled lips. “…water.. I need a water..” he was begging. The darkness stretched eternally as he faded into nothing, closing his eyes. “PURPOSE?!” voice screamed. It pulled him out of the emptiness. “….glory of Hydra..” he whispered as devastated as he was. A wet rag touched his lips, reeking of mildew. He was so dsperate for moisture, that he sucked at it. The rag was torn away so quickly. He was left, craving for more of a moisture. He heard a satisfaction in the voice. “Good. Take him away.”
There had always been blood on his hands: from the people he’d eliminated. The targets they’d assigned to the asset. Enemy soldiers when he was a sniper in the war. A short flashbacks frequently appeared when he was falling asleep. Sometimes he was even able to assign them to a certain events from his previous… life? Was it a life or was it only a dream? He wasn’t sure. He never has been.
“A shining new era is tiptoeing nearer” one of the commanders said loudly, standing at a stiar-head at the top of a stairs. “I know it sounds sordid, but you’ll be rewarded, when at last we’re given our dues.” Bucky looked at the man, no ounce of emotions left in him anymore. The commander continued. “Of course, quid pro quo, you’re expected to take certain duties on board. Prepare for the coup of a century, be prepared for the murkiest scam, meticulous planning for decades. Our ambitions are bared. You only have to kill Captain America. That’s your next target. He’s your next mission.” Bucky didn’t even blink, he only gave a slight nod. He knew the rules… “Payback time is nearing and then our flag will fly against a blood-red sky” the man smiled rudely, looking at rest of soldiers, who were gathered in the huge canteen. They all were looking at one of their leaders. Man looked directly at Bucky, his mouth corners slowly raised up in an awful smile. “The battle may be bloody, but that kind of works for us. The melody of growls, a counterpoint of painful howls, a symphony of death, that’s what we need to hear.” Man in a khaki uniform slowly went downstairs and stood in front of the Winter Soldier. “Hydra’s still around to train this soldier…” he walked around Bucky, finally putting palms at assasin’s shoulders from behind. Than man said loudly: “…till he learns to be a perfect killer with a lust for being bad.” Bucky knew the rules. He just was assigned. Now he had a mission.
Paper Panda 
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